THE ETERNAL TRIANGLE

As we all reflect every July, there is nowhere in the cycling universe like France. It’s got the biggest race in the world, some of the best scenery and – inevitably – the lion’s share of the sport’s legendary mountains. It’s also bucked the trend that can be seen in cycling’s traditional heartlands in recent decades: in Belgium, Holland, Italy and Spain, the team structure has been largely hollowed out to at most a couple of top-line squads.

But in France, there are currently more pro bike riders than there were in the 1980s, and more teams at the highest level, a total of seven in the WorldTour and ProTour. That’s partly the trickle-down effect from the Tour, but it’s also down to a quarter century of effort from three men with common roots in racing in the 1980s: Marc Madiot, Vincent Lavenu, and Jean-René Bernaudeau.

The three musketeers. Madiot the quixotic, passionate Porthos, a man whose passion is on display whenever one of his riders wins. Lavenu, the serious, hard-working Athos, seeking to leave a difficult past behind. Bernaudeau the suave, superficially cold-blooded Aramis, a man devoted to his métier, who rarely displays his deeply felt emotions. The trio have gone about building their teams – Madiot’s FDJ, Lavenu’s Ag2r and Bernaudeau’s TotalEnergies – in contrasting ways, with different trajectories. But they all have one thing in common: the race experience of 1980s France. Then, two teams